Japan to give up UNSC bid for now (AFP) Updated: 2005-08-21 20:58
TOKYO, (AFP) - Japan will give up its bid to secure a permanent seat on the
United Nations Security Council for the time being after it failed to win enough
international support, a daily said.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, also president of the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), speaks to voters on the street of
Itami, western Japan, August 20, 2005. Koizumi took to the streets in
western Japan on Saturday, hoping to drum up support for his postal
privatisation agenda ahead of a parliamentary election next month.
[Reuters] | Japan, the second largest UN donor
after the United States, has been jointly lobbying for permanent council
membership with Brazil, Germany and India as part of the so-called Group of Four
or G4.
The G4 proposal calls for increasing council membership from 15 to 25, with
six new permanent seats without veto power --- one each for Brazil, Germany,
India and Japan and two for the African region, and four non-permanent seats.
A two-thirds majority or 128 votes is needed in the 191-member General
Assembly for adoption. But the Sankei Shimbun daily said only 90 nations,
including Britain and France, supported the G4 blueprint.
The United States, Japan's closest ally, has said it supports Japan's bid but
not that of the three others. The G4 proposal is also opposed by China, Japan's
regional rival, and the 53-member African Union.
Any of the five current permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia
and the United States -- could veto the proposals being considered by the UN
General Assembly to expand the council.
While Japan will give up its bid for now, the government still sees a
permanent UN seat as a major diplomatic goal and plans to expand its UN work
through foreign aid and peacekeeping operations, the paper said.
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